Candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee Chip Saltsman has sent the members of the committee a holiday music CD that included a parody song called „Barack the Magic Negro,” which was first aired back in 2007 by talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

The song, which was created by conservative satirist Paul Shanklin, added different lyrics to the „Puff the Magic Dragon” tune, while the parody was played by Limbaugh  after an opinion piece with the same title was featured in the Los Angeles Times.

The CD was sent along with the usual holiday wishes by Chip Saltsman, who managed former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign and who has announced he would be entering the competition for leader of the Republican Party this month.

Saltsman told the Hill newspaper, which was the first to report the holiday gift the Republican had sent, that he deemed the song as a mere joke, adding that he believed that the RNC members had the good humor and good sense to simply consider it a political parody.

Earlier this fall, another Republican also running for leader of the GOP, came into much media attention when he decided to give up his 12 years membership in a whites-only country club, only a few weeks before he revealed his plans to candidate for the top position within the political group.

The two men’s actions are aimed at improving relations with African Americans, who cast their vote in great numbers on November 4 for Barack Obama in the United States presidential elections.

The two African Americans among the candidates for RNC chairman are Michael Steele, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, and Ken Blackwell, a former secretary of state in Ohio.